Your post confuses me (and, apparently, at least one other). You hated that 1st cigarette so much you compare it to smashing your own digit … but you had … another one? AND a cigar?
wimps.
Indeed it does, but the primary cause of “relieved stress” and the source of many of those “feel goods” is the fact that your body is getting a fix of a drug you’re addicted to. You get similar feelings from most addcitive drugs upon getting your “fix”.
To continue from your own cite “*By binding to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, nicotine increases the levels of several neurotransmitters - acting as a sort of “volume control”. It is thought that increased levels of dopamine in the reward circuits of the brain are responsible for the euphoria and relaxation and eventual addiction caused by nicotine consumption…Smokers often report that cigarettes help relieve feelings of stress. However, the stress levels of adult smokers are slightly higher than those of nonsmokers, adolescent smokers report increasing levels of stress as they develop regular patterns of smoking, and smoking cessation leads to reduced stress[citation needed]. Far from acting as an aid for mood control, nicotine dependency seems to exacerbate stress. This is confirmed in the daily mood patterns described by smokers, with normal moods during smoking and worsening moods between cigarettes. Thus, the apparent relaxant effect of smoking only reflects the reversal of the tension and irritability that develop during nicotine depletion. Dependent smokers need nicotine to remain feeling normal.[34]
*”
From the original source:
http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0003-066X.54.10.817
Does cigarette smoking cause stress?
Parrott, Andy C.
Current issue feedAmerican Psychologist, Vol 54(10), Oct 1999, 817-820
“The message that tobacco use does not alleviate stress but actually increases it needs to be far more widely known. It could help those adult smokers who wish to quit and might prevent some schoolchildren from starting.”
Here is another article (warning PDF) which also refutes that smoking relieves stress:
And there’s also this, which requires a subscrition,
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.1994.tb03732.x/abstract
"However, if smokers are smoking to relieve stress, there is little to suggest that they actually
achieve the desired effects. … ’ These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that,
far from being stress-relieving, smoking is actually stress- inducing"
In other words, nicotine seems to cause stress, but the rush from a “fix” temporarily relieves the extra stress caused- and more. However, overall, smoking increases stress.
I’ve merged the two threads about this topic.
Actually, *not so much. *
Okay. Glad to be stood corrected - once again - on this issue.
after reading all this…
…I need a smoke.
An extended stay in Europe was probably a factor in my case, but then this was in the 1970s.
I can’t account for the second cigarette, but the experience of smoking a good cigar is decidedly different from smoking a cigarette.
It’s a foolish choice. But people rationalize threats to their safety and health in many ways; it’s just that most of them aren’t nearly as risky. Most people would probably benefit from eating far less red meat, and reducing alcohol intake, but they do these things anyway. It would be more beneficial for people to read a good book than watch American Idol, but people spend time in front of the TV anyway. It’s probably human nature to put pleasure ahead of other considerations, some of the time.
Absolutely. As I said, the effects are increased with increased exposure to the drug.
But the question wasn’t, “is smoking addictive” or “does smoking increase stress”. The question was, in effect, “show me where smoking makes you feel good with the first cigarette, before you’re addicted.”
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/020328/nicotine.shtml
bolding mine
In fact, a single cigarette, or the first cigarette after a period of abstinence long enough to deplete nicotine in the body (like overnight) actually has a *greater *“high” than the second, third or subsequent cigarettes:
http://neuro.bcm.edu/_web/danilab/files/390401a0.pdf
Yes, nicotine is highly addictive, no doubt about it. You mess with the dopamine system, and the effects are complicated and long lasting, creating cravings. But the assertion wasn’t about craving or addictions, but about whether that *first *cigarette people smoke feels good, despite the coughing and taste many people don’t like. Yeah, it does. It does because it messes with your dopamine, blood sugar and all sorts of other systems. It doesn’t just do that once you’ve smoked a few days or weeks, but from the very first cigarette.
The first was in high school. I knew I didn’t care for the smell of cigarette smoke, but with the number of people that frequently smoked I thought maybe there was something to smoking it yourself rather than just picking it up second hand. Such was not the case.
The second was years later after time had dulled memories of the first. I was going to bars and the thought was maybe I had just gotten some crap brand the first time so I bummed one from a friend that everyone agreed was one of the better brands. I can’t say that there was any difference.
While I have never cared for cigarette smoke there are cigars and pipes that are quite pleasant to smell. But certainly no more enjoyable to actually smoke.
‘Benefits’ would be hard for a nonsmoker to accept. But anyone trying to get a loved one to quit, or anybody for that matter, has to recognize that people don’t smoke only to service their addiction to nicotine. They also do it because they like it. It’s not as if every smoker is desperately wishing they could wave a wand quit immediately, even if they know they ought to.
American cig ads, such as still exist, have always focused on an imagined lifestyle or positive personal trait that goes with their products, rather than on the actual experience of using the product. This makes it even more difficult for nonsmokers to understand. When I got to Germany in 1977 I immediately noticed the difference in print ads. Over there, a cigarette ad would show, for example, the cigarette newly lit, in an ashtray of sparkling crystal, next to the packet prominently displaying the brand name. Arguably that could be considered a “lifestyle” ad too, but at least it showed the actual cigarette being used.
Well, considering that all of the places that sell cigarettes around here require an ID, I can understand that.
There probably are more people that do smoke at work, but they don’t do it openly like the old guard. We have a wellness clause with our health insurance – if you smoke, they automatically ding an extra $20 from your paycheck.
Well, you see, there are no benefits to smoking. None.
-
increased mental acuity- clearly, if you continue to do soemthing that you know will kill you and your family- they you have decreased mental acuity.
2.less anxiety & stress control- as my cites in the above post have shown= However, if smokers are smoking to relieve stress, there is little to suggest that they actually
achieve the desired effects. … ’ These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that,
far from being stress-relieving, smoking is actually stress- inducing" - Smoking doesn’t cause weight loss so much as stopping smoking causes a mild temporary weight gain, which is common amoung quitting many drug addictions.
Even if there are some benefits to nicotine use, they are far outwieghed by the addiction. In any case, there are no benefits to smoking, other than killing others around you.
Your reply is to “Originally Posted by the lone cashew
And I’d like to see some evidence, any reputable cite that tobacco indeed relieves stress/anxiety, that the perceived relief is not simply a response to an already acquired addiction.” I have shown that tobacco indeed does NOT relieve stress/anxiety, and that the perceived relief IS “simply a response to an already acquired addiction.”
We don’t try "working with smokers as rational adults" as they are not rational, they are *addicts. * Addicts are by definition- no longer rational. Indeed, most of your posts are similar to they normal 'rationalizing" of addicts for their addiction.
I see, I’m an addict, and I’m not rational. Thanks for clearing that up.
If you are a smoker, then yes you are an addict- and then no, you are not rational about your addiction.
Cigars too?
One only needs to look outside the entrance to a hospital to see how delusional a smoker really can be. When physicians who treat the very illnesses you get from smoking are inhaling as deeply as they can, that’s when you know how deep the delusion and addiction runs.
Well, that may or may not be. I have a freind who smokes one cigar every New Year. He’s not addicted.
My father smoked Tiparillos, about 10 a day, he was addicted. 
lindsaybluth: good point. 